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Elveti (Noricum Gauls)

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In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern, and eastern France. The Gauls were divided from the Belgae to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne, while also extending into Switzerland, northern Italy, and along the Danube (see feature link for a discussion of the origins of the Celtic name).

The Taurisci were a major tribe or confederation which also seems to have included the Norici (Strabo refers to the Taurisci as a tribe and the Norici as a collective). By the middle of the first century BC, both groups and their attached minor tribes were occupying what is now central Austria, extending into western Slovenia and part of northern Croatia, with the Danube forming the northern border, and the fractured Alpine tribes to their west.

One of those attached minor tribes was the Elveti or Elvetii tribe (not to be confused with the similarly-named Helvetii). Confirmed as being Gaulish, and part of the part of the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture, their name is known only via three inscriptions which were uncovered in Magdalensberg in Austria, in the unique form 'ELVETI'.

The name appears to come from Common Celtic, with the Gallic root *elu- or 'eluo-' meaning 'numerous', which can be associated with '-eti', meaning 'territory'. Their name could therefore be translated as 'those who have much territory'.

The Magdalensberg honorary inscriptions which mention the tribes of the Noricum followed, according to G Alföldy in 1974, a geographical ordering and, more precisely, a spiral progression. Those at the head of the confederation therefore appeared first (the Taurisci), followed by their immediate western neighbours (the Ambilici and Ambidravi), and their immediate eastern neighbours (the Uperaci), before mentioning more distant groups from west to north-west. Those would have been the Saevates, Laianci, Ambisontes, and Elveti.

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(Information by Trish Wilson, with additional information by Peter Kessler, from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from Geography, Ptolemy, from The Illyrians, John Wilkes (Blackwell Publishers Inc, 1995 & 1996), from The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69, Alan K Bowman, Edward Champlin, & Andrew Lintott (Eds, Second Edition, University of Oxford, 1996), from Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Harry Thurston Peck (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1898), from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, from Geography, Ptolemy, from Die Kelten in Österreich nach den ältesten Berichten der Antike, Gerhard Dobesch (in German), from Urbanizzazione delle campagne nell'Italia antica, Lorenzo Quilici & Stefania Quilici Gigli (in Italian), from La frontiera padana, Mauro Poletti (in Italian), and from External Links: On the Celtic Tribe of Taurisci, Mitka Guštin, and Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Polybius, Histories, and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively), and Le Alpi (Università di Trento), and Pleiades (Ancient World Mapping Center and Institute for the Study of the Ancient World), and The Illyrian Wars, Appian (Livius.org), and Noricum (The Provinces of the Roman Empire), G Alföldy (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974, available for purchase via Cambridge University Press).)

c.600 BC

The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), writes of an invasion into Italy of Celts during the reign of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome.

Livy states that two centuries before major Celtic attacks take place against Etruscans and Romans in Italy, a first wave of invaders from Gaul fights many battles against the Etruscans who dwell between the Apennines and the Alpine region.

The Taurisci burial site at Zvonimirovo lies midway between Zagreb and Osijek in modern Croatia, and has yielded artefacts which can be dated between the Middle Ages and the third century BC, including this ritually destroyed sword

Following divination by the druids, Segovesus of the Ambisontes heads into the Hercynian Forest, on the east bank of the Rhine (this forms the northern border of the lands known to the ancient writers of the Mediterranean, and the modern Black Forest forms its western part).

He ends up leading his groups into Carinthia (now in southern Austria) to found the Ambisontes and Ambidravi tribes. The Ambisontes develop a centre on the River Salzach (actually just north of Carinthia's modern regional border), while the Ambidravi settle on both sides of the River Drava to the south of the Ambisontes.

The very near neighbours of the Ambisontes in later centuries include a smaller tribe known as the Elveti. Their origins are obscure, but it may well be likely that they form part of this migration or are formed as a result of it.

The modern southern Austrian region of Carinthia marked the upper edge of the Adriatic hinterland which was first occupied by Celts towards the end of the fourth century BC

c.300 BC

By the Late Iron Age, the area between the southern edge of the eastern Alps and the northern Adriatic has long been inhabited by diverse older populations, such as the Raeti, Ligurians, and Veneti, with Celtic tribes to their north for the past three centuries.

More newcomers arrive into the area around this time in the form of Celtic communities from north of the Danube, the heart of Celtic culture (possibly from so far north that the majority of them are in fact Belgae).

The presence of the Celts in this area is first confirmed after 1829, when hoards of Celtic coins are discovered in the area of Celje, in Vrhnika, and in Šmarjeta.

The tribes concerned are determined by the historian Albert Muchar to be the Latovici, Serapili, Sereti, and Taurisci. This seems not to involve the Ambidravi and Ambisontes, presumably because they are already settled. In addition, their clearly Gaulish names marks them out from the other Taurisci confederation tribes, all of which bear names which could be Belgic.

The origins of the Euganei, Ligurians, Raeti, Veneti, and Vindelici are confused and unclear, but in the last half of the first millennium BC they were gradually being Celticised or were combining multiple influences to create hybrid tribes (click or tap on map to view full sized)

c.60 - 40 BC

From the latter part of the first century BC and into the next century, various historians mention a variety of tribes and their affiliates which are uniformly identified as being Taurisci, together with a variety of other Cisalpine tribes which include the Norici and Iapydes (not all of which are Celtic in origin).

By this time, the Taurisci have picked up a good deal of local influence, partially from the Scordisci and partially from the remaining indigenous population.

Ancient authors also list several smaller indigenous communities, such as the Illyrian Colapiani along the River Kolpa, the Celtic Ambisontes in the Soča Valley, the Subocrini around Razdrto, and the Rundicti in the Kras and Notranjska regions.

The greater Tauriscan tribal community with some identified smaller tribes (such as the Agones, (probably), Laianci, Latovici, and Uperaci) has never developed into a state formation, but it is becoming known collectively as the Norici.

A silver or gilt plate depicting a Scordisci chieftain, part of the Jakimovo horde discovered in north-western Bulgaria, dated to the second or first century BC

25 - 15 BC

Augustus determines that the Alpine tribes need to be pacified in order to end their warlike behaviour, alternately attacking or extracting money from Romans who pass through the region, even when they have armies in tow.

He wages a steady, determined campaign against them during the Alpine Wars, and in a period of ten years he 'pacifies the Alps all the way from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian seas' (written by Augustus himself).

The Ambisontes are included in this defeat after throwing in their lot with the Raeti and Vindelici. Given the fact that the Catubrini lie between Italy and this tribe, they should also be included, as should the Elveti, although the Alauni remained peaceful. Following this, the history of the Alpine region's population of Celts and others is tied to that of the empire.

This vast map covers just about all possible tribes which were documented in the first centuries BC and AD, mostly by the Romans and Greeks, and with an especial focus on 52 BC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)